Tainted Love
by Flaming Tigress Mage
Summary: Ocarina of Time Dark Link and the nature of his relationship to Link are more complicated than would first appear.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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You know that you should be despising him for doing this to you, but you can't. You are a creature of darkness, born in the shadow of that which could become a great hero. You are his insecurities, his nervousness, his hatred, his fear, everything that might be considered 'bad' in his psyche; you have ripped it from him and used it to carve out your own little niche in the plane of existence the two of you now share.

You find it more amusing than anything else that the hero doesn't even know that his terrors and angers are gone for a good reason. The little _twerp_ (and oh, yes, you can call him little, you can call him twerp, you were still there when he dreamed of Ganondorf and _screamed_) thinks that it is a side-effect of his own maturity coming into the future, that he has conquered his fears on his own and has no use for _you_.

But yes, you were there when he pleaded in his heart for a friend, for someone who would pick him up when Mido and the others knocked him down, and you grew around that, you _reveled_ in it. You were his friend, whether he knew it or not, _always_ there for him; you took away his fear of the Kokori brat and replaced it with the fear of something much more evil, much greater. Even if it took the Deku Tree to identify the name, you were in the shiver the kid thought he suppressed when hearing about him. You embraced the gasp he let out when Ganondorf looked directly through the window at him.

When he was out adventuring, you fed on his darker emotions before he even had the chance to feel them. You ate his impatience with the head Goron when that guy didn't bother to try and help at the beginning. You devoured his fear when facing the giant Dodongo. Everyone around him was pleased at how brave this little boy was, how he faced danger without breaking a sweat, how he was exactly the hero they needed, and all you do is laugh, knowing that without you, that 'brave hero' would be reduced to a quivering wreck.

One of the few things that actually _annoys_ you about him is his tendency to run into those undead monsters, the Redeads, because their wails cut you off from him completely, make it impossible for you to feed on the brat's fear, and stops him in his tracks with the first true taste of fear he has ever had since his first nightmare, when you were born. Fortunately for you, the kid thinks that the Redeads just have some sort of horrible paralysis effect and stay as far away as possible from them as he can.

As the kid finally reaches the castle town with the princess' required jewels in hand (and they sing to you, sing of purity and kindness and you smirk at the irony of so much bloodshed and atrocities being committed to protect this purity), you _delight_ in the fear he gives off when his nightmares come to life, when everything you've been building Ganondorf up to be in his head is nothing near the original, sneering down his long, green-skinned nose at the brat, and the fear is so gorging that you can't help but leave some behind for him to experience. As Ganondorf rides off after Princess Dearest and the kid falls to his knees, utterly ashamed of being unable to stand up to the being who could crush him without a second thought, you crow in triumph at knowing that your paths will cross again, that you will be able to feast on that fear time after time as the kid tries to stand up to the self-proclaimed King of Evil.

Everything goes wrong, though, when the brat pulls the Master Sword from the pedestal and you are flung backwards, out the door, even as Ganondorf storms in to claim the power of the Triforce as his own. He spares you a second glance on his way out, recognizing you for who you are, even when you can't see him, when you're writhing in the agony of being away from the brat for the first time in your entire, miserable life. The King of Evil picks you up and takes you with him, determined to put the brat's less desirable traits to good work.

Ganondorf finds great pleasure in the irony of any part of the hero who's trying to destroy him serving him willingly, and for your part, you revel in the fear that he inspires in you, the fear that once you were unable to feel but perfectly able to feed off of, and you find the idea of a self-created banquet to be brilliant. You are beaten for your insolence more than once, when the King of Evil strides into a room and you grin at him for feeding you, and you never once let on that the fury that you feel at the beatings, the humiliation and shame of being so completely under the power of another is, quite literally, making you stronger.

His slave, Nabooru, suspects that you are more than you let on, but the part of her that recognizes this is the part of her that desperately tries to struggle free of Ganondorf's thrall, and so she does not spare you the attention that would be detrimental to your plans. The witches, Koume and Kotake, think that they are putting you under their power when they give you potions to make the drinker distrustful, never knowing that they are empowering you.

You have _known_ the satisfaction of having a good meal off your host, the triumph of battle with the blasted fairy who was always trying to encourage the brat, and so experiencing these positive emotions does not change anything – which is good, as you now have few opportunities to experience them under Ganondorf's thumb. No, these new, negative emotions which you have fed off of but are now experiencing are the ones that make you excited, ready to do anything to feel them again. You are whipped for crying at night, but in reality there are no tears, merely laughter at the thought that _this, _what you want, would stir you to obedience.

You learn another emotion, soon after you become corporeal: the glory of defeat. Ganondorf has decided that he will use you to defeat the brat, and so instructs Nabooru to teach you the art of sword-fighting. When you lose, you have the benefits of both feeling shame burn inside you and the resentment at being beaten. You lose as often as you can, until you become too skilled to lose convincingly anymore. Thinking that you were just hiding your skill to surprise him, Ganondorf is not pleased, and strikes terror in your heart when he glares at you disapprovingly for the win. After this, you begin to win again and again.

You watch as Ganondorf tries to create another you from himself, but he does not know what he is doing – there is only one _you_, after all – and instead shapes darkness into his form. The creature has none of his power and glory, and you delight in mocking it whenever you can. Finally, disgusted with his efforts, he sends the creature into the forest where the boy used to dwell.

As Ganondorf takes you into the volcano, no doubt to impress you with his power by raising the dragon and make you stop _laughing_ at him, you gaze around the place in curiosity and suggest imprisoning the Gorons for the dragon to eat. You are positive that no matter what Ganondorf's plans are, the brat will at least make it here (if only because that damned fairy doesn't _shut up_) and he will feel true horror at the sights you will show him – making you even stronger. As the Gorons begin to fight, a battle which will take years before it is decided, you know, you see a little one who the chief is calling by the _brat's_ name. You idly command the monsters to leave it alone, knowing that the kid will _hate_ the hero-worship that naming someone after him would indicate.

You remember the horse and the little red-haired girl he used to play with and so you casually suggest (in a way that makes it seem that you aren't suggesting at all, only accidentally letting something slip) that striking at the brat's friends would be the best way of striking at him. Ganondorf approves, using mind-magic on the ranch's assistant to make him hurt the girl and animals. In a stroke of irony (something, you notice, that Green-and-Ugly is fond of using), he decides to give the horse to you, given that you're the only one small enough for it. Although Epona (or whatever its name is) knows that you cannot possibly like it, that for a creature of darkness like you it is impossible to adore it, the two of you are able to build a working relationship, to the point where it will even approach when you call it.

You were aware of the exact moment when the brat woke up: a little tingling on the back of your hand combined with a feeling of sudden _awareness_, as if you had been blinded for a while and the wrappings were being removed to let you see for the first time in a while, signaled it. You do not tell Ganondorf, because it will be all the more enjoyable for him to find out the hard way and take it out on you. You watch and laugh as Ganondorf storms around, trying to find a way to stop the brat.

The petty, petty man decides to take it out on you while you're still around. "_Hate him,"_ he hisses in your ear as he pulls you up by your collar to strike you again. "_Hate him for living and making me do this to you_," and by Farore you know that you should be despising him for doing this to you, you should be hating him for taking out the sins of the 'good' one on the 'bad' one and growing stronger from it, but after so much time feeding off his emotions you cannot help but feel anything but enjoyment that _you_, in a way, are paying back every scrap of what he put you through. For, even if you cannot feed off of his anger and resentment the way you can your own and the brat's, there is a certain element of _control_ you have not felt since you plagued the twerp's mind with nightmares that thrills you even more than feeding off of negative emotions.

He sends you off to the temple of water, and hopes you'll either rot in there or kill the brat when he comes along. "_Hate him,_" Ganondorf snarls for the last time as he leaves you locked into a room, "_Hate him for existing, hate him for conquering the temples and making me put you here, hate him, hate him, hate him!_"

But you cannot hate your other, the light to your shadow, the one who once fed and now continues to feed you with the hatred he doesn't know he feels, the fear he thinks he has conquered, the resentment which he thinks is not there. You have never known the meaning of the word 'love' until it was explained to you, but you know that you love this brat, _your_ brat who you manipulate so perfectly. You love the righteous anger he will give off when you mockingly ask him _why _it took him so long to wake up and wield the Master Sword. You love the shade of purple his face will turn when you ask him _why_ he was so familiar with Epona and it with him, and tell him that it loved _you_ first. You will love it as he stops trying to talk to you and instead charges you, sword raised, and you will love his hatred if you squish that damned fairy like a bug if it gets anywhere near you.

You can feel love, just as he can feel fear, and you will deliberately send him as much of your love as you can, so when he feels how much he(you) loves you(him) he(you) will hate himself(you) for feeling such a thing for such a disgusting creature. You lick your lips anticipatorily at the cycle that is about to come into place; your love fueling his hatred fueling your love once again.

And when he strikes you down (for he loves the glory of victory almost as much as you love the glory of defeat) you will retreat back into him, feeding off his fear and hatred, letting him keep a clear head no matter what happens in your buffet of emotions. For you may be a creature of darkness, but you are not _evil_, nothing that is part of his innocence and naïveté (that you have worked so, so hard to protect, if only to continuously feed off the fear and anger of a pure soul) can possibly be anything but _good_. The two of you were never meant to be apart, even if he was pure (thanks to you) and you were not (thanks to him), and it is long-past time to rectify the mistake made seven years ago.

And when the two of you (for it will always be the _two_ of you, no matter who else tags along) have finished, you will keep him all to yourself. After all, anyone else who tries to interact with him would taint his purity, taint the delicious source of emotions you feed off of, and you _cannot _allow that. You were with him when he cried out for a friend, long before Saria, long before Zelda, long before Malon, and you have given him everything he has needed, you have been much more useful than that _stupid _fairy he insists on keeping, and you will make sure that _all _of them know that the only one who will ever have a handle on him is _you_ – even if you have to kill them all.

After all, you have ripped all of his evil out of him and cherished it as your own, and without the opportunity to act on, and thus understand and refrain from committing said evil, it has grown to quite a considerable amount over the years. You are his strength, you are his defense, _you_ are the only (man? being? thing?) one that he will ever need.

And you will never, _ever_ let him go.

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A/N: I don't really have an excuse for this. I was up, writing more of 'To Lands Still Unknown', and this suddenly hit. It is now...(checks watch) Wow. It's now four o'clock, and I got the idea for this a few hours ago. I really should be getting to bed.

I'd like to claim right now that I don't _usually_ write such dark fics, but every once in a while, something just...I don't know, it just bursts out of me. This was that something.

Inspired by the thought of, 'Jeez, doesn't Link ever feel guilty about killing people or just, you know, walking into someone's house and taking their stuff?' combined with the thought of 'Whatever happened to Dark Link?' Well, he can't, and Dark Link's still there. You just can't see him anymore.

Reviews would be appreciated.


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